Quick races

Quick races are races you can run in a two-minute visit: a match race against another stable’s horse, a ghost race against the best of a real race, and the daily challenge, one puzzle a day for everyone. They run straight away, play in the race viewer, and are always unofficial: careers, Live races and the Cup stay the main game.

#Unofficial, every time

Quick races use the same race engine, courses and race model as a Live race of today, but nothing they do touches the rest of the game:

• No rating change, no form line, no record: a quick race is never a start and never on the form book.
• No fatigue, no injury risk and no growth: your horse comes back exactly as it went out.
• No credits, entries or fees; nothing on the ledger. No league points, jockey rides or experience, tote or picks.
• The replay plays with a badge on the stage (MATCH RACE · UNOFFICIAL, GHOST RACE or DAILY CHALLENGE), the race call and the battle graphic, but no finale or prize-giving.

#Match races

1. 1
   Open Quick races and pick one of your racing horses. To choose a rival, tap Challenge on a horse’s page, a runner on a racecard or a stable’s page, or search by horse or stable name.
2. 2
   Race one-on-one, or pick up to 3 rivals for a field of 4. Any other stable’s racing horse can be challenged; the owner doesn’t need to be online.
3. 3
   Choose the course, the surface (one that course races on), the trip (1,000 m to 3,200 m) and the going, and your horse’s tactic. The all-weather always rides good.
4. 4
   The race runs at once with fresh luck (a new random seed each time) and opens in the viewer.

Every horse runs as it is today: its current fitness and form, a normal ride, a typical C-grade Club rider. Rivals run their natural style. If a rival beats your horse, its owner gets one quiet line a day (“Copper Comet beat Paper Moon in a match race”). Each pair of horses keeps a match record, shown on the result and the horse’s page, separate from the official head-to-heads.

#Ghost races

A ghost race asks “would my horse have been placed?”. Pick one of your horses and a settled Live race from yesterday or today (UTC): your horse races the first 3 home exactly as they ran in that field (their fitness, weights, tactics and riders on the day), on that race’s course, trip and going, with fresh luck. The result reads as “You’d have finished 2nd”. If your horse ran in that race, the ghosts are the first 3 others. The real result stands.

#The daily challenge

One puzzle a day, published at 00:00 UTC and the same for everyone: a Club horse, a field of 8 and the conditions. You don’t pick the horse: you pick only three things, then ride.

• The tactic: front-runner, stalker or closer.
• The ride: steady (saves stamina), normal, or all out (more burst, a hotter head).
• The rider grade, A to E. A better rider costs weight: the horse carries 4 lb less its rider’s claim, so A 4 lb, B 3 lb, C 2 lb, D 1 lb, E 0 lb. Each pound costs about one rating point.

One attempt per stable per day. Every attempt that day runs with the same seed, so the same plan always gives the same result: the only difference between players is the plan.

#An example day

This example was built from an example day by the game’s own rules: Midnight Rumour at Bellmont, 1,500 m on synthetic, good going, from gate 5, against 7 Club rivals. Three plans, one example seed:

Plan	Finished	Time	Same again
Front-runner, normal, A rider	5 of 8	1:33.72	Yes
Stalker, normal, C rider	6 of 8	1:33.35	Yes
Closer, all out, E rider	8 of 8	1:33.37	Yes

#Board, points, streaks and badges

The day’s board ranks attempts by finishing position, then time, then who rode first. Points come from the finishing position: 10 for a win, 7 for 2nd, 5 for 3rd, 3 for 4th, and 1 for taking part. The best 10% of the day (always at least the leader) earn a Top 10% badge once the day is over. A streak counts days in a row with an attempt; it isn’t lost until a whole UTC day passes without one, and missing a day costs nothing else.

#Fair play: the sealed seed

The day’s luck is a random seed drawn when the challenge is published. Only its fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash) is shown during the day, so nobody can try plans offline; other stables’ plans and replays stay hidden until the day is over, too. The next day the seed is revealed next to its fingerprint, so anyone can check it, and every attempt can be replayed exactly. Sealed seeds are explained in How races are run.

The Daily Cup is a different daily race: your own horse against a Club field for a time, see The Daily Cup.